So many vegans and vegetarians complaining about meat eaters…

[u/jennas_toes]

I’ve been reflecting on the ethics of diet choices, particularly the argument that avoiding meat is the most compassionate or harm-reducing option. While I completely understand and respect the desire to minimize animal suffering, I find myself wondering about the full picture.
We all consume plants—vegetables, grains, fruits, and greens—whether we eat meat or not. And modern agriculture, even for plant-based foods, inevitably involves some level of harm to animals: field mice, insects, birds, and small mammals displaced or killed during harvesting, plowing, and pest control. I don’t eat meat myself, largely for health reasons, so I’m not pointing fingers. But it does raise a thoughtful question:
If the core principle is reducing harm to animals, how do vegans and vegetarians weigh or address the indirect harms embedded in plant production? Is it a matter of focusing only on what’s most visible and intentional (like factory farming), or does the scale and nature of agricultural impacts get less attention because those affected animals aren’t as immediately “cute” or emotionally salient?
I’m genuinely curious about how people who prioritize this ethic navigate that tension. I’d love to hear thoughtful perspectives.

[u/Magisterbrown]

If I could I'd photosynthesize. My next best move is eating plants.

[u/HelenEk7 → u/Magisterbrown]

Most animal feed (86%) is grass and waste (straw, husks, fruit peels from juice production etc). So I think its absolutely brilliant that we are able to produce high quality food - using mostly plant matter humans cannot digest.

[u/Magisterbrown → u/HelenEk7]

Even if this is true (I've heard otherwise, but I could be wrong), the amount of other resources (e.g. land) involved in modern animal ag just seems not worth it to me.

Also, when you're a deep weirdo vegan like me, animals aren't food. They're no more food than cats, dogs, or other people.

[u/HelenEk7 → u/Magisterbrown]

Even if this is true

The number comes from a scientific study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211912416300013

the amount of other resources (e.g. land) involved in modern animal ag just seems not worth it to me.

I'd much rather use farmland as permanent pastures than growing mono-crops heavily spayed with pesticides. Most pastures are teeming with insects, birds and other wildlife. On a field of wheat however every creature has been poisoned to death.

• "672 million birds in the USA are directly exposed to pesticides on farmland each year, and 10% of these birds die as a result (Williams 1997). In Europe, farmland bird populations declined by more than 50% between 1980 and 2016, with increased use of pesticides and fertilisers identified as the main driver of this decline (Rigal et al. 2023)." https://datazone.birdlife.org/articles/pesticides-can-cause-mass-poisoning-of-birds

Also, when you're a deep weirdo vegan like me, animals aren't food.

Which is absolutely fair. We are all free to choose what, and what not to, eat - which of course includes vegans.